"Good morning, little friends. Today's regional temperature is between twenty and twenty-three degrees. The weather is sunny, perfect for playing outside. Next is morning exercise time. Please follow me to do stretching exercises..."
Prometheus, under Lin's icy glare, grabbed his hands and began to imitate the host on the television, performing morning exercises.
"One, two, three, four..." The gray-haired girl with the side ponytail waved her hands and feet, treating Lin like a puppet on a string, twirling him in a circle.
"Prometheus."
"Two, two, three, four..." She spun Lin around.
"Let go."
"Three, two..."
The people in the monitoring room were all eating noodles while scrolling through the Moth of the Flame intranet forum. One person glanced at the screen, slurping his noodles as he asked, "Shouldn't we stop them?"
"Doing broadcast calisthenics for a disabled person? Why should we care? It's none of our business even if he does that thing with the robot," another person waved impatiently. "We just need to watch him and prevent him from leaving this city."
"That's true." The first person laughed. "It's strange, though. Didn't they say this person never interacted with anyone? What's the deal with this robot girl? And I heard he was close to Elysia too."
"He probably uploaded it himself on the intranet. We've seen plenty of people who are outwardly virtuous but secretly mess around. Didn't you hear what the Councilman said? He only got all that credit because of the R&D department's equipment, and he even caused the death of the Department Head."
"Oh, I see."
After the pointless morning exercises, Prometheus pushed Lin through the outside garden for a walk to get some fresh air.
The flowers were vibrant and plump, with various colors making the flowerbed a beautiful sight.
"Lin, I've been blocked from accessing the intranet, and I can't contact Doctor Mei. I can't even breach the Moth of the Flame's firewall with my single computational power." The girl mechanically reported her futile efforts over the past month to Lin, which was what Lin had instructed her to do. "You are no longer considered a member of the Moth of the Flame now."
Prometheus was the AI that managed Lin's system. Not giving her access to the Moth of the Flame's permissions was equivalent to not recognizing Lin as a soldier of the Moth of the Flame anymore.
Lin twisted his neck. He was beginning to fight for control over the part of his body below his neck: "What about the monitoring room?"
Data flowed through her crimson eyes. She was checking the monitoring room inversely through the surveillance equipment: "The monitoring room's equipment has been modified. They cannot correctly hear the content of our conversation."
"...Mhm."
That was all Lin could do.
His being detained here was a mutual compromise between the two political factions, but that didn't mean the faction that had previously sent the assassin wouldn't make small moves in private. He had to be vigilant himself.
With a lifespan of only four years left, Lin had no intention of spending all four years paralyzed here. So he had to actively recover. Dying in the next Eruption was better than dying here.
And...
'Lin, you are my hope.'
Lin gritted his teeth, sinking his consciousness into his body, but it was like a stone in the ocean—there was no response.
This wasn't an issue that could be resolved by replacing body components. The primary reason for the conflict between consciousness and body was the consciousness itself, so the recovery had to start from the consciousness.
He could not lose.
Just as he said every time he faced the Honkai, he could not lose even once.
Prometheus watched Lin trying to control his body in the wheelchair. She turned her view to the flowerbed next to them, trotted over, and plucked a pale purple peony, placing it on her head.
"Lin, look."
Lin looked up, glanced at her behavior of holding out her arms and trying to keep the flower from falling off her head, and didn't bother to speak, continuing his attempts.
Prometheus tilted her head. The peony rolled off her head and fell to the ground.
She crouched down, picked up the flower, dusted it off, looked at Lin, and then looked at the flower in her hand.
Then she raised her hand and tucked it into the gap in his helmet.
"..."
"..."
Lin and Prometheus looked at each other in silence for a moment before he asked, "What do you want?"
"I want to go out," Prometheus thought for a moment and added, "I want to go out with Lin."
Lin sternly refused: "I don't have time."
Prometheus immediately covered both sides of her head and began retrieving data: "Checking Lin's schedule... Confirmed no activities between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. for the past month. Assessment: Lin is lying."
"You are an artificial intelligence. You should obey my commands."
The girl shook her head: "Denied. Doctor Mei and Doctor Vil-V have certified me as an electronic life form, asserting my human rights. I can autonomously judge whether Lin's commands should be executed."
Lin's eyes grew darker: "Denied. You have violated human rights law. You cannot demand I present evidence."
"Denied. Lin has violated human rights law. I cannot be required to present evidence."
"Denied. Without self-authentication, you do not meet the conditions of human rights law."
"Denied..."
...
"Are they cosplaying?"
"Yeah, look at that girl's pupils. She must be wearing colored contacts."
Lin was starting to doubt whether he had given Prometheus too much authority.
A paralyzed person in a wheelchair wearing a helmet being pushed to the street by an artificial intelligence to an amusement park was probably more absurd than the news reports.
Prometheus changed into long sleeves and pants that covered her joints, and she also changed Lin into casual clothes, but she insisted on not taking off his helmet.
She slowly pushed Lin past the chatting crowds toward the amusement park.
This city was the one where Lin and Soul had come for vacation to look for clues about the Cocoon. So, when Lin saw the familiar amusement park, he turned his head to Prometheus.
"Prometheus, go back immediately."
"Lin, you haven't had a rest all year."
"I've had a rest. I was here a month ago."
"I haven't had a rest all year."
"..."
Lin completely failed to understand the AI's thought process... No, he should call it electronic circuitry. He remembered that he hadn't taught her this kind of content. Why did her personality become completely different from his after the level of anthropomorphism increased?
Amidst Lin's futile struggle, Prometheus bought tickets and pushed Lin into the amusement park, under the ticket inspector's astonished gaze.
She pushed Lin into a corner, pointed to the ice cream stand in the distance: "I'm going to buy ice cream."
"Don't..."
Before Lin could speak, Prometheus ran off, leaving Lin alone in the corner.
"..."
He sighed, only able to watch the passersby. The families walking together passed in front of him, their laughter echoing in his ears.
What was the situation inside the Moth of the Flame right now? Tense standoff? Or undercurrents surging?
This amusement park was harmonious with happy families. Were the people in Headquarters arguing precisely for this peaceful scene?
"Um... hello... did you run into some trouble?"
A timid child's voice sounded in his ear. Lin turned his head and saw a head of pink hair.
"Did you... get separated from your family? Wait a moment... I can ask my sister to help you look for them..."
Her pink pupils looked somewhat scared at the azure visor.